Sharks see nice future but must face present

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, June 28, 1998

The Sharks made a first-round selection in the 1998 NHL entry draft that bodes well for the team's future. Now it's the immediate present that has general manager Dean Lombardi most concerned.

"We've got some serious work to do next week," said Lombardi in reference to the opening of free agent season on Wednesday.

"I really like the foundation we've built the last couple of years," he added. "But you have to put a product on the ice that's going to compete now. That's what we don't feel good about. We're not a better team than we were last year."

The selection of 18-year-old Regina Pats defenseman Brad Stuart with the third overall pick at Buffalo's Marine Midland Arena on Saturday quickly gave way to Lombardi & Co.'s need to fill several holes before San Jose hits the ice in the fall.

A trade of Saturday's high pick might have solved a problem or two, but no deal came to fruition other than the Sharks swapping first-round spots (No. 2 for No. 3) with expansion Nashville to get the Predators' second-round selection.

"I'd say two days ago there were four potential deals," Lombardi said. "The problem we were having (was) the offers were players we felt were older. . . . It just didn't make sense."

In Stuart, San Jose took the player it wanted all along after the Predators followed Tampa Bay's choice of Vincent Lecavalier with fellow Canadian League center David Legwand. Then, with the 29th overall pick, the Sharks nabbed right wing Jonathan Cheechoo from Belleville of the Ontario Hockey League. San Jose wound up with nine new players overall.

Lombardi would give up a high first-round pick only if he received a player who would still be a significant contributor when the team's nucleus - Jeff Friesen, Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Andrei Zyuzin, Mike Rathje, Owen Nolan and Scott Hannan to name a few - reached its full potential.

Some of the players who were rumored dangling in front of Lombardi for the pick included Rangers winger Adam Graves, 30, Phoenix center Jeremy Roenick, 28, and Calgary alternate captain Theoren Fleury, who turns 30 on Monday.

"If those kind of players were offered four years ago and we were at the same stage I'd have no problem pulling the trigger," Lombardi said.

With the 6-2-1/4, 215-pound Stuart, the Sharks get an offensive-minded defenseman who possesses size and speed. Stuart recorded the hardest shot (95.5 mph) and the fastest time in the 60-foot sprint (2.814 seconds) at a top-prospects skills competition at midseason.

"To have a potential guy who can run a power play, who is quick, (has) soft hands, sees the ice well and who can play a lot of minutes is a limited commodity," Lombardi said.

"If this team is going to be a Stanley Cup contender, I don't know how you do it without this sort of player."

Stuart, converted in junior hockey from forward to defense, scored 20 goals and 65 points in 72 games in the Western Hockey League last season. He agrees that speed, skill and size are his best assets.

"I'm a good skater with good offensive skills, but I try to be an all-around defenseman who can play in all situations," said Stuart, a native of Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. "I've got to get stronger and work on my consistency. That will come with maturity."

After attending training camp in the fall, Stuart should expect to spend a final season with Regina before seriously competing for a major-league roster spot.

"If he reaches his potential, you can see how crucial these guys are," Lombardi said, pointing the importance of Rob Blake (Los Angeles), Brian Leetch (Rangers) and Al MacInnis (St. Louis) to their respective teams.

"Arguably, outside of your goaltenders he's the most important player in the rink. You just don't get too many chances at this. You don't win a Stanley Cup without that position being filled."

Which brings the Sharks back to reality. They don't have that position filled for next season. It's nice to have Stuart, Andrei Zyuzin, 20, Scott Hannan, 19, Rathje, 24, and Shawn Heins, 24, developing, but a hole at No. 1 defense and the need for a top-line center still exist.

"That goes back to the whole philosophy of the organization," Lombardi said. "We have to be aggressive now.

"We have to do something over these next couple of weeks or we're going to have to evaluate as an organization what we want to do if we're going to suffer up top," he added.

"We might have to do something with this foundation to fill some holes." &lt;

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